Pope prays for volcano victims in Flores
EVACUATION efforts continued this week on the Indonesian island of Flores, where Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki volcano erupted on 3 November, killing ten people. Volcanic material has continued to spew from its crater, prompting the authorities to evacuate more of the surrounding villages; residents are reported to have been reluctant to leave. The Pope concluded his Angelus on Sunday with a prayer for the victims, the displaced, and their families. Lewotobi Laki-Laki is one of 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia. A previous eruption in January forced about 6500 residents to evacuate.
NZ apology to survivors of abuse in care
THE Prime Minister of New Zealand, Christopher Luxon, has formally apologised to the more than 200,000 children and adults who suffered “horrific” abuse and neglect while housed in state and faith-based care institutions from the 1950s onwards. A Royal Commission Inquiry, which reported in July, estimated that, of the 655,000 people who went through New Zealand’s care institutions from the 1950s, about 200,000 were abused. It found sexual, physical, and emotional abuse and neglect to be widespread and systematic. Māori were disproportionately affected. Speaking in the New Zealand Parliament on Tuesday, Mr Luxon said: “Today I stand before you as the representative of not only this government, but all of the governments that have gone before us to offer a formal and unreserved apology for the abuse you suffered while in state care, churches and other faith-based places. It was horrific. It was heart-breaking. It was wrong. And it should never have happened.”
Attendance goes on falling in US Episcopal Church
ATTENDANCE in the Episcopal Church of the United States has been slow to recover from the pandemic, its latest analysis of data from parochial reports, published last week, suggests. This information is submitted annually by the Church’s 106 dioceses and 6754 congregations. In 2010, there were 7067 congregations. In 2023, churches reported having 1.5 million members, down by about 500,000 members over the past decade. Worshipping numbers are much lower: about 410,000 people attended Episcopal services on a typical Sunday in 2023, the report says, putting it in line with pre-pandemic trends of decline. (In 2021, average Sunday attendance fell to 310,000 before rising to 370,000 in 2022.) The new Presiding Bishop, Dr Sean Rowe (News, 8 November), told the Executive Council at their meeting about the report last week: “I think what we’re looking at now is a true post-pandemic Church.”
Far-Right activist sentenced in Sweden
A DANISH-SWEDISH far-Right activist, Rasmus Paludan, has been sentenced by a Swedish court to four months in prison for inciting hatred against Muslims at two protests in 2022, during which he burned a copy of the Qur’an (News, 7 July 2023). Mr Paludan, who is a citizen of both Sweden and Denmark, had pleaded not guilty and intends to appeal. He was convicted on similar charges in Denmark in 2020. The judge, Niklas Söderberg, said in a statement on Tuesday: “It is permissible to publicly criticise, for example, Islam and even Muslims, but the contempt for a group of people must clearly not exceed the limits of a relevant and responsible discourse. In these cases, there was no such discourse. Instead, the statements were merely intended to defame and insult Muslims.”
Swiss ‘burqa ban’ to take effect on 1 January
A PROHIBITION on facial coverings in public spaces in Switzerland is to take effect from 1 January, the Swiss government announced on Wednesday. A referendum on the proposal was passed narrowly in 2021. The governing Federal Council said in its statement that anyone found in defiance of the law would face a fine of up to 1000 Swiss francs. The ban does not apply in aeroplanes or diplomatic and consular premises, and faces may also be covered in places of worship and other sacred sites. Facial coverings are to remain permitted for reasons related to health and safety, native customs, or weather, the government says. They will also be allowed on artistic and entertainment grounds and for advertising.
Priest not employed, so Church’s liability restricted
THE Australian High Court has overturned a 2023 decision of the Victorian Court of Appeal that the Roman Catholic diocese of Ballarat was vicariously liable for the sexual abuse of a five-year-old child by an assistant priest in the Victorian town of Port Fairy in 1971, writes Muriel Porter, Australia correspondent. The Victorian court had ruled that, although no formal employment arrangement was in place for Fr Bryan Coffey, the Church was vicariously liable because he was a “servant of the diocese” and his position gave him access to children. The High Court ruled that “expanding the doctrine [of vicarious liability] to accommodate relationships that are ‘akin to employment’ would produce uncertainty and indeterminacy. As the priest was not an employee, there could be no finding of vicarious liability on the part of the diocese.” Coffey, who died in 2013, was handed a three-year suspended sentence in the Ballarat County Court in 1999 for multiple counts of sexual abuse of other children.